AATA

I was saddened by the attitude expressed in Barbara Applebaum's
message of 18 March about the kinds of questions that sometimes
appear on the Cons DistList.  Some conservators work in situations
where there is simply no good library available to them, so
enquiring of colleagues is an obvious and correct thing to do.  It
is indeed useful that the CIN database is now available over the
Internet, but *only if one pays for it* (and from the UK it is
almost pointless trying after 9am GMT--when most people are getting
into work--as the system is just too slow).

In the UK, salaries for professional conservators are very low,
considering this is a degree-level job, and unless they are
fortunate to work in an institution that buys the AATA abstracts, or
buys access to the CIN database, they simply don't have the option
to consult these sources as they are too expensive.

However, if a conservator can afford to pay a few pounds per month
to get personal Internet access, this opens up all kinds of
opportunities that are *free*, such as joining the DistList and
using CoOL.  Conservators should be free to use such resources as
they choose.  Personally I don't enjoy having to wade through
detailed information in DistList mailings about various workshops
and courses being conducted in the US, but I recognise that it
serves a useful purpose for many of my colleagues on the other side
of the "pond", so that's OK.  No-one is obliged to reply to a
request for information that is posted to the DistList, so I don't
see the problem.

And as for the new AATA cumulative index--same old problem--too
expensive! As I have a couple of doors that need propping open,
perhaps Ms. Applebaum could send me the two volumes so that I can
try them out!

Adrian Tribe
Institute of Archaeology
University College London

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 9:66
                  Distributed: Monday, March 25, 1996
                        Message Id: cdl-9-66-007
                                  ***